Paper, paper everywhere

Paper, paper everywhere; Whatever happened to the paperless office? Canadians use more paper than ever before- and The Gazette's office is no exception.

Paper consumption more than doubled in Canada between 1983 and 2003 and the business world’s demand for paper is still going up, a Statistics Canada study concluded last year.

The 400 employees of Gazette’s advertising, editorial and administrative offices are spread over three floors of the downtown Dominion Square Building.

With 11 copiers, 16 fax machines and 45 printers, we use a total of 25,590 kilograms of office paper a year. And not a sheet of it has recycled content.

If we switched to 100-per-cent recycled office paper, it would cost up to 33 per cent more but we could save 676 trees and spare the environment 27 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions, estimated Zerofootprint, a Toronto not-for-profit organization that analyzed The Gazette office’s carbon footprint.

Years ago, Gazette library staff lovingly clipped articles and stuffed them in folders that reporters signed out under the stern eye of librarian Agnes MacFarlane. Now, our archives are online. But many of us (present company excepted, most of the time) are inclined to print out our research. Tut, tut. Alas, our sins don’t end there. Just check out the polystyrene coffee cups littered on desks. Gazette employees used 61,500 disposable cups from our coffee machine in the past year.

And some of us didn’t even buy the coffee – an extra 1,000 cups were swiped for drinking water. Okay, I confess: it was me. Reporters here use non-rechargeable batteries in their tape recorders. Gazette purchasing clerk Giovanna Baldino has been collecting the batteries for disposal for four years – her way of helping the environment.

Other aspects of The Gazette’s nonmanufacturing lines of business have significant environmental impacts.

Our 17 advertising reps drive their cars an average of 20,000 kilometres a year for work purposes while our 14 staff photographers drive an average of 14,000 km a year.

The annual environmental tab for all that driving is 110 tonnes of C02 emissions, Zerofootprint calculated.

The cost of heating our 76,831 squarefoot office is included in the rent. Zerofootprint estimated its impact for one year at 150 tonnes of C02. Electricity for computers, lights and appliances adds another 15 tonnes of C02.

In total, our office is responsible for 347.7 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions a year – the equivalent of driving 114 Toyota Tercels for one year, Zerofootprint estimated. So, dear colleagues: What say we keep our fingers away from the “print” button, ask the landlord to turn down the heat/air conditioning and cycle to our next assignment?